Planetarium and Digital Dome
Iziko’s enriching and enabling education programmes include Planetarium edu-tainment for diverse school groups and audiences.
The programmes endeavour to develop the full potential of learners. They include lessons, workshops, teacher enrichment programmes and educational projects aimed at adding value to classroom practice, as well as special needs activities and educational resources.
See below for a series of Planetarium and Digital Dome events and resources!
Sky Map
The centre
of the map is the overhead point, the edge is the horizon. To use the map, hold
it up in front of you and rotate it to match the direction you are looking
(e.g. hold it upside down when you are looking south). Do not lay it flat on a
table or the points of the compass will be the wrong way round.
September 2023 Sky Map
Spring returns to South Africa with Spring Equinox on 23 September (where night and day have roughly equal length). Towards the south, we find both the closest star system to the Sun (including bright star Alpha Centauri, around 4.4 light years from Earth) and some of the furthest celestial objects observable to the naked eye: the Small and Large Magellanic Clouds (neighbouring irregular-type galaxies around 200 000 and 160 000 light years away from us respectively).
Moving eastwards, Capricornus (sea goat), Aquarius (water bearer), and Pisces (fishes) consist of relatively faint stars, making them challenging to identify. Together with the other Zodiac constellations, they lie along the Ecliptic, an imaginary line which follows the apparent path of the Sun as Earth makes its annual orbit. As the Sun-Earth plane approximately aligns with that of the Solar System, the planets can also be found along the Ecliptic.
In the early evening, Mars and Saturn can be seen shortly after sunset (towards the west and east respectively) with the moon appearing close to Mars on 16 September. For night owls and early risers, a bright Jupiter rises around midnight, followed by the brilliantly bright ‘Morning Star’ Venus just before sunrise. The fourth and last Supermoon of the year, the Full Moon or ‘Spring Moon’ (in South Africa), will be on 29 September.
Download the September Sky Map HERE.
2023 Sky Maps
- August Sky Map
- July Sky Map
- June Sky Map
- May Sky Map
- April Sky Map
- March Sky Map
- February Sky Map
- January Sky Map
2022 Sky Maps
- December Sky Map
- November Sky Map
- October Sky Map
- September Sky Map
- August Sky Map
- July Sky Map
- June Sky Map
- May Sky Map
- April Sky Map
- March Sky Map
- February Sky Map
- January Sky Map
